Brees Speaks about OTA's

this is a discussion within the Saints Community Forum; Saints QB talks about his whirlwind offseason, return to the field
New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees
Thursday, May 27, 2010
What has it been like balancing all the things that have been thrown at you since winning the Super ...

Saints QB talks about his whirlwind offseason, return to the field
New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees

Thursday, May 27, 2010

What has it been like balancing all the things that have been thrown at you since winning the Super Bowl?

“I think just about every player on our team had their high school jersey retired and a street named after them in their hometowns; all of those things that are great things. But certainly there comes a time when you have to get back to work and you have to start thinking about how you can go out and accomplish the things that we’re still setting out to accomplish and hit that level of success that we experienced last year. As much as we want to sit here and say, ‘We’re just going to build on what we did last year and take it where we left off and continue to go up from there,’ the fact of the matter is that every year is a new year and every team is a new team, regardless of how many guys you have coming back. We’re lucky in that we only lost three starters from last season, when you talk about Charles Grant, Scott Fujita and Mike Bell – who contributed quite a bit in the running game last year. We have a lot of returning starters and a lot of returning veterans.

“But the fact of the matter is that circumstances change; for some guys, they’re getting a little older. For young guys, that’s a good thing; they become a little bit more veteran, a little bit more experienced. I think there’s a fine line there where you can take the experience from last year, you can take the success from last year and the confidence that was built and that’s all a good thing – you want to carry that forward and continue to build on that. But what you also have to understand is that we are building a new team and that it is a new year. I felt like we had a great draft; we’ll watch and see how these new guys are going to fill in. Some of them might end up being starters and some others might contribute a lot, although they might not be a starter.

“There are plenty of things from last year that we can look at and say that we were good at it but we can be better. And there are some other things that we weren’t very good at and we need to get much better at it. I think the philosophy is still that we have not arrived by any means. Yes, we accomplished the pinnacle of success in our business but it was just one year. The fact of the matter is that when this season starts, or even right now as we sit here today, there are 32 teams out there that feel like this is going to be their year. What I do feel like we have is a great window of opportunity because we do have a lot of the pieces of the puzzle in place that we’ve built here over the last four years and there’s an expectation level and a bar that we’ve set for ourselves. By no means can we relax or think that we’re entitled to anything because if anything, everyone is gunning for us and it’s going to be harder because we have the bull’s eye on our chest and I think people know the type of team that we can be but the fact of the matter is that we have to go out and prove that every week.”

If you were and oddsmaker, would you make the Saints the favorites?

“I think if you were just going to look at the returning starters and talent level and all those things, you’d say the Saints are a favorite. I think just about every year you’d look at the team that won the Super Bowl the year before and if they have most everyone coming back then you’d say that you don’t see why they can’t do it again. I look at our team and I say I don’t see why we can’t do it again. But that doesn’t mean that we’ll just walk out on the field and expect people to lay down for us and it’s just going to happen. We still have to put in the type of effort in the weight room, on the practice field, in the film room; everything that we do to prepare, we have to even take it to the next level because we know that in every game on our schedule this year, the other team is looking at it and circling the New Orleans Saints as a team that they would love to beat. Because I know that’s the way I approach it. If there’s a team coming to town that might have won our division the year before or won their conference or won the Super Bowl – that gives you a little extra pep in your step.”